Education 2 Pack Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 2 1. About Musicals and Crazy for You .................................................................................................. 3 A History of the Musical ...................................................................................................................... 4 George and Ira Gershwin .................................................................................................................... 8 Synopsis of Crazy for You .................................................................................................................... 9 The Characters .................................................................................................................................. 11 2. Meet the Team.............................................................................................................................. 12 Interview with the Director............................................................................................................... 13 Meet The Cast ................................................................................................................................... 15 3. The Rehearsal Process ...................................................................................................................... 17 The Journey of a Production ............................................................................................................. 18 The Design Process ........................................................................................................................... 20 Costume Designs ............................................................................................................................... 22 A Day in Rehearsals ........................................................................................................................... 23 Inside the Rehearsal Room…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..24 Rehearsal Report ............................................................................................................................... 27 Credits ............................................................................................................................................... 28 1 Introduction This pack has been designed to support your visit to The Watermill to watch our production of Crazy for You. This is a digital pack; where you see this arrow there is a link that you can click on to view other material online. Your feedback is most welcome, please email [email protected] or call me on 01635 570927. Don’t forget that we offer workshops on most aspects of drama, and visit many schools in the surrounding area to work with students and teachers. For an education brochure, please visit the Outreach pages on our website, or contact us. For our schools brochure please click here. We hope you find the pack useful. Heidi Bird Outreach Director Email: [email protected] | Tel: 01635 570927 The Watermill Theatre Bagnor, Newbury, Berks RG20 8AE www.watermill.org.uk www.watermill.org.uk/education_packs This pack was written and designed by work experience placement, Esther Mead with contributions from Ella Wilson, Emily Beck, Matthew Waite, Millie Randall and Beth Flintoff. The Watermill’s core Education and Outreach programme is generously supported by The Dr. Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation. Rehearsal photos by Philip Tull. Production photos by Richard Davenport. 2 1. About Musicals and Crazy for You 3 A History of the Musical Theatre and music have always gone hand in a series of sketches by writers like Ivor hand, ever since the Ancient Greeks started Novello and Noel Coward, such as London exploring different ways of performing two Calling in 1923. thousand years ago. In the 1700s people were After World War II, a musical called Oklahoma putting songs and musical interludes into their surprised everyone with its brilliant energy. It plays, but they weren’t called ‘musicals’ until was written by two Americans, Rodgers and nearly 200 years later. Opera – a play entirely Hammerstein, who worked together with one sung by classical singers accompanied by a full writing the music and the other the lyrics. For orchestra – had been around for hundreds of the first time the storyline was properly years by this time. A musical, by contrast, will interwoven with the music. generally have scenes with spoken dialogue interspersed with songs and dancing, In the East End of London, at the Stratford accompanied by an orchestra or band. The East Theatre Workshop, a director called Joan music is more pop than classical, and the Littlewood decided that theatre shouldn’t be orchestra will contain instruments not just for ‘posh’ people, as she put it. She normally found in a classical orchestra, such wanted real accents, and encouraged the as drums, guitar and saxophone. actors to improvise. Everyone was involved in the creation of the work. The first musical she The West End and Broadway created was called Fings Ain’t What They Used The world of musicals in this country is to Be. The songs were put together by an centred on the West End – a handful of unknown composer called Lionel Bart, who streets in the heart of London that are littered couldn’t read or write music, but had an with large theatres. There aren’t just musicals ability to create great songs in his head. Fings in the West End – there are also plenty of Ain’t What They Used to Be had lots of rude plays – but this is where people come to see lyrics and suggestive dialogue, and at the time the big musical of the moment. It’s the same there was still censorship. The censors came in America, where there is a single street in to see the performance, and were predictably New York called Broadway with 40 theatres. upset - they even thought that a ladder was Sometimes musicals that are really successful carried at an ‘erotic angle’! But the show was in London’s West End will transfer to so heavily improvised that the actors simply Broadway, and vice versa. A successful changed it the next night. And shortly musical in the West End, where thousands of afterwards, with Saved at the English Stage tickets are sold every night, could make a Company, censorship was abolished. fortune for everyone involved; a flop can Meanwhile over in America West Side Story, a mean financial ruin. musical version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Early musical theatre Juliet, updated to street gangs in contemporary America, marked the first time At the start of the Twentieth Century there that a serious theme had been attempted on were light-hearted musicals, often coming such a large scale. The choreography was from America by jazz composers such as dynamic and edgy, expressing the anger of George Gershwin and Cole Porter such as disaffected teenagers. Lionel Bart’s next Funny Face, and Kiss Me Kate. There were musical was Oliver!, also about street gangs, similarly jolly English shows that were mostly 4 but set in the Victorian era with homeless protested outside the theatre. But the reviews children instead of teenagers. It was also a were fantastic. Paul Nicholas, the actor huge hit and the first successful British show playing Jesus, said later that playing the to travel across to America. crucifixion scene ‘was very overwhelming’. As he was lifted up by a hidden frame, so that it Lionel Bart became a celebrity, and his next looked as though he was suspended mid-air, collaboration with Joan Littlewood was hotly with beautiful music playing, he said he ‘had anticipated. It was called Twang, and told the tears streaming’ down his face. story of Robin Hood. But it went terribly wrong. The director and composer disagreed, The producer of Jesus Christ Superstar, Robert and scenes were constantly changed. Barbara Stigwood, had the clever idea that this Windsor, an actress famous for appearing in production might work around the world. the Carry On films who later went on to star in After all, nearly everyone has heard of Jesus the BBC’s long running soap EastEnders, was a Christ. So it was carefully replicated, with the member of the cast, as was the comedian same music, set, and direction, and sold to Ronnie Corbett. He said later that ‘if you went other countries. It was a brilliant idea that still to the toilet you would come back and your works today, but at the time it wasn’t without part had been completely cut.’ The show was problems. Andrew Lloyd Webber, for a disaster, critics hated it, and poor Lionel example, hated the French version in Paris so Bart, who had paid for it with his own money, much that he ran down the aisle shouting ‘this went bankrupt. must be stopped’ until Robert Stigwood was able to calm him down. Controversial musicals The development of musicals Theatre is always a reflection of the world around it, and in the 1960s the world of For a while, after the success of Superstar, peace-loving protest found its way into the musicals got bigger and bigger – their sets and musicals. Hair, a show about hippies production values were huge, and the protesting against the Vietnam War, was all storylines took on epic themes. They became about spontaneity and authenticity. They cast known as ‘mega musicals’. unknown actors who weren’t necessarily Andrew Lloyd Webber began to experiment trained, and the musical caused a big stir by with the form: he wrote Cats – a